In many instances, an elongated workpiece such as a center link shaft must be heated at axially spaced positions, for a successive forming operation. This is often done by passing the shaft axially through a solenoid type of inductor or coil. As the workpiece moves axially with respect to the inductor or coil, the coil is energized when aligned with the areas to be inductively heated. This process has proven quite satisfactory; however, each workpiece must be loaded, unloaded and processed individually. This requires a substantial amount of time and requires a heating cycle dependent upon the amount of movement of the workpiece together with the necessary time for heating the spaced portions of the workpiece to the desired forming temperature. To overcome this difficulty, it has been suggested that the workpieces could be moved transversely along a feedline between spaced inductors generally of a fixed design and aligned with the portions of the workpiece to be heated. This arrangement has not proven too satisfactory because the inductors are quite expensive and can be used for only a particular workpiece. For that reason, such an arrangement would be applicable only for high production. Also, the control of the band width for the heated portions of the workpiece is difficult.